Jackie Chan's Martial Art Style

[brianbarton]

Does anyone know Jackie Chan's martial art style and any other interesting info about him.

I have searched the internet and there is very little information.

Thanks, Brian

[Despairbear]

Mr. Chan makes some great movies but don't confuse that with martial ability. I belive that he was taught some kung fu while he was at the acting school when he was a child. Most of what he uses in his movies is what I call "Movie-jitsu" looks great, very entertaining, knocks down lots of bad guys but has no efffectriveness in the real world. Now I am not saying that the martial artists from the silver screen have no martial ability or talent. What I am saying is that 90% of the stuff you see in the movie is "movie-jitsu".


Despair Bear

[Dronak]

Our master has been telling us basically the same thing. He says that he's teaching us real, traditional Chinese martial arts and not fancy stuff that's just for show. Everything has some purpose even if it's not immediately obvious. He too said that things you see in movies and such generally aren't the most effective things in real life combat situations. Being a beginner, I probably couldn't tell why in most cases (except I know you don't want huge wind-ups for punches or something, that just telegraphs your intentions to your opponent), but a more experienced martial artist could probably find faults all over the place with movie fighting.

[deadhand31]

I've looked into Jackie Chan's biography, and he was educated in a theater company. Martial arts definitely was part of his cirriculum, however his school equally emphasized acting, singing, and stunt work. His earliest experiences in show business is in Chinese Opera and plays. While he is a very talented martial artist, (he could definitely whoop my butt!!), he is foremost an actor.

But damn! he makes some great films!!!

[Cthulhu]

Chan's primary martial arts experience comes from his schooling, which involved heavy martial arts training and acrobats, meant for the theater and screen.

He has studied more combative systems, Wing Chun and Muay Thai, I believe, but I don't believe he has studied either one extensively. He's too busy makin' films.

And I hope he keeps makin' 'em for a long time :D

Cthulhu

[brianbarton]

Is it true that Jackie Chan appeared in Enter the Dragon and if so where abouts.

[Cthulhu]

When Bruce is fighting all of the guards underground. I believe it's right after or right before he starts fighting with double-sticks. He grabs a guard and is holding him in a painful position by the hair. He then snaps that guards neck. That guard is a very young (and very gap-toothed) Jackie Chan.

I think he also did a fall for "The Big Boss", but I can't remember where.

Cthulhu

[GouRonin]

I believe he refers to it as "Peking Opera Style" and it is more of a performing art. Sammo Hung is also of this Genre.

[Zujitsuka]

I can't remember which book I got the info from, but Jackie Chan said that when he was young, he studied a system called "White Eyebrow" (Pak Mei?).

[Rob_Broad]

Jackie Chan has stated in the past that he is a great imitator, he watches and learns his techniques and choreography from his technical advisor. He studied with the Peking Opera Company when he was younger but was more apt for the big screen.

He is very talented and quite the risk taker. I enjoy watching but I am not deluded enough to think he would make a great instructor.

[Cthulhu]

I think Jackie Chan said in an interview long ago that in a real fight, he'd probably do poorly. My memory has always been spotty, though.

Cthulhu

[vincefuess]

The guy is an acrobat extraordinaire!!! He knows enough martial arts to make his stuff look realistic on film. Anybody who can move like that would be a formidable opponent, and the bottom line is: WHO CARES???? He's fun to watch, he moves much better than me, and just like me he probably hopes he never has to prove his worth in an actual altercation.

Whattya want??? The guy is awesome at what he does and I respect him for that.

[John_Boy]

Peking Opera teaches their students a modified version of wushu(heavy in acrobatics) intended for spectacular performance quality.

[10,000 Hit Combo]

Kung Fu means hard work, hard-working boy or sustained effort or skill. Wushu means martial arts skills or proficiency. The two are all encompassing. That being said, jackie chan has been doing kung fu for a long time to develope his wushu. He's strong as an ox and tough as nails. I personally think his kung fu is even better than jet li's. It also depends on how many objects in the room he could use to his advantage.
You get beat with a stick long enough and you might get tougher. Chuck Norris is the best though cuz he's got the beard.

[Em MacIntosh]

I think jacky would be a fine scrapper. He just needs to tie his shoelaces.

[bushidomartialarts]

I've actually been and seen the 'Bejing Opera' style shows. They're full of martial arts type moves, but the moves are clearly done for show, not trained combatively at all.

Sort of like the moves you see a solid demo team do: fancy, entertaining, but clearly not the self-defense bread and butter.

I understand, as has been mentioned, that Jackie has taken some classes since getting into the martial arts film industry.

[ehsen]

Somesone used the perfect word "movie Jitsu". Whatever we see in movies it just looks good on screen but not effective in real life and it shouldn't be considered the true representation of martial arts. For example In Jet Li's famous movie "Tai Chi Master" he used different styles of Tai Chi in different scenes. At one place he was using Canon Fist at other point he was using 24 forms. Which is quite confusing.

But movies are good way to inspire people to learn martial arts. I would say I am learning Martial Arts just because of Jet Li and Van Dame's movies.

But Yeah Its MOVIE JITSU
:drinkbeer

[JBrainard]

As I stated in another post, Chan's father taught him Northern Shaolin during his formative years before he joined the Peking Opera Company. After that, I have no idea.

[Xue Sheng]

As I stated in another post, Chan's father taught him Northern Shaolin during his formative years before he joined the Peking Opera Company. After that, I have no idea.

Chan Kong-Sang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Chan